


REVEREND JOHN TUCKE 

1702-1773 



A 




Class 



EAlL 



BOOK 



•Lsi 



PRESENTED l:Y 



Underneath 

are the Remains of the 

REV. JOHN TUCKE, A. M. 

He graduated at Harvard 

College A. D. 1723, was ordained 

here July 26, 1732, 

and died late in august, 1773, 

Aet. 71. 

He was affable and polite in his 

Manner, amiable in his disposition, 

of great Piety and Integrity, 

given to hospitality, 

Diligent and faithful in his 

pastoral office, well learned 

in History and Geography as 

well as general science, and a 

careful Physician both to the 

Bodies and the Souls 

of his People. 



Erected 1800 in memory of the Just. 



The inscription above is taken from 
the sandstone slab placed over the 
grave of the rev. john tucke 
by Dudley A. Tyng of Newburyport, Mass. 



In 1914 a kinsman, 
EDWARD TUCK, 

RENEWED IN PERMANENT FORM 
THIS MEMORIAL. 



DEDICATION 

OF 
A MEMORIAL TO 



REVEREND JOHN TUCKE 

1702-1773 



STAR ISLAND ISLES OF SHOALS 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

JULY 29, 1914 



With an Address on Captain John Smith 
by Justin Harvey Smith 



Erected by Edward Tuck 



dedicated by the 
New Hampshire Historical Society 



PfJ5 



Edited by 

Otis Grant Hammond 

Superintendent 



Published by the Society 
1914 



Gift 
The Society 

0£C 9 JW4 



MONUMENT 

IN MEMORY OF 

REVEREND JOHN TUCKE 

/^~\N MARCH 27, 1914, at a special meeting of the 
^-^ Trustees of the New Hampshire Historical Society, 
Mr. Benjamin A. Kimball announced the intention of 
Mr. Edward Tuck to build a permanent memorial over 
the grave of Rev. John Tucke at Star Island, Isles of 
Shoals. Mr. Kimball had previously directed Mr. 
Timothy P. Sullivan of Concord, an authority in monu- 
mental art and construction, to investigate the whole 
subject, consider the location, and recommend a plan 
for the proposed memorial. The result is shown in the 
granite obelisk, dedicated July 29, 1914, whose picture 
forms the frontispiece of this volume. The design, 
construction, and erection of the monument were en- 
trusted to Mr. Sullivan. 

At this meeting Mr. Kimball further suggested, in 
accordance with Mr. Tuck's wishes, that the New 
Hampshire Historical Society secure the site of the 
monument in its own name, dedicate, and care for it 
forever. The Trustees accepted and carried out these 
recommendations. Mr. Kimball stated that it was the 
wish of Mr. Tuck that the dedication ceremonies should 
be conducted by the Society, and desired the Trustees 
to take action to that end by the appointment of the 
necessary committees or agents. 

On motion of Judge Corning it was voted that the 
President appoint a committee on arrangements, to 



4 

make all necessary plans for the dedication of this monu- 
ment, and an executive committee, whose duty should 
be to carry into effect the plans of the committee on 
arrangements. 

The President appointed the following committees 
in accordance with the preceding vote: 

Committee on Arrangements. 

Benjamin A. Kimball, Concord; Frank N. Parsons, 
Franklin; Harry S. Holbrook, Manchester; Fred W. 
Estabrook, Nashua; Elisha R. Brown, Dover; Henry 
W. Stevens, Concord. 

Executive Committee. 

Alfred F. Howard, Portsmouth; Wallace Hackett, 
Portsmouth; Otis G. Hammond, Concord; Timothy P. 
Sullivan, Concord. 

On motion of Mr. John Dowst it was voted that the 
committee of arrangements be vested with full power to 
make and execute all necessary plans, in behalf of the 
New Hampshire Historical Society, for the dedication 
of the monument. This committee reported progress 
in the form of a program of exercises for the dedication 
of the monument on July 29, 19 14, which report was 
accepted and approved, subject to change at the dis- 
cretion of the committee. 

On motion of Mr. Clarence E. Carr it was voted that 
the executive committee be authorized and directed to 
carry out, in the fullest detail and in the best possible 
manner, all such plans for the dedication as should be 
made by the committee on arrangements. 

On motion of Mr. Kimball it was voted that the pro- 
ceedings of the dedication be edited and published by the 
Secretary, Otis G. Hammond, and that a copy be given 
to each member of the Society. 



To understand the chain of events that led to the 
building of the Tucke memorial it is necessary to go 
back a year or more. Dr. Joseph W. Warren, an accom- 
plished antiquarian, during his summer visits to Star 
Island, had noticed the disintegration of the red sand- 
stone slab covering the remains of the Rev. John Tucke, 
who died in 1773. The slab had been placed over the 
grave in 1800 by Dudley A. Tyng of Newburyport, 
Massachusetts. Time and the elements had made the 
inscription almost illegible. 

On September 12, 19 13, Mr. Sullivan visited the 
Shoals to examine conditions. On January 27, 1914, 
Charles A. Hazlett, president of the Piscataqua Savings 
Bank of Portsmouth, and a devoted student of local 
history, accompanied by Mr. Sullivan, visited Star 
Island, and measured a circle sixty feet in diameter, 
with the grave for its center. This plot was subse- 
quently deeded to the New Hampshire Historical Society 
by the Piscataqua Savings Bank, the owner of Star 
Island. On March 11, 1914, a contract was made with 
the Pigeon Hill Granite Company of Rockport, Massa- 
chusetts, for a monument in the form of an obelisk, to 
be constructed in conformity to the following specifica- 
tions: 

Specifications For A Proposed Granite Monument To 
The Reverend John Tucke, To Be Placed Over His 
Remains In The Little Cemetery At Star Island, 
One of The Isles of Shoals, Off Portsmouth Harbor. 

The base to be in three pieces as shown. The plinth to be 
in two pieces as shown. The obelisk to be in pieces as shown. 
The monument to be of rock-face finish or partly scabbled, with 
a three-inch margin on all angles, of eight-cut work. 

The faces of three pieces as shown to be finished to a fine 
rubbed surface for the inscription. If the surface of the three 
stones is not large enough for the inscription, part of one side 
or the whole of the fourth stone must be rubbed fine. 



The letters will number about five hundred, and must be 
very large and deeply sunk. A model will be furnished show- 
ing a portion of the lettering, giving the character and sinkage 
and size of the letters appropriate for such monument. 

The remains of the Reverend John Tucke (which have lain 
there since 1773) to be placed in a vault of cement concrete in 
the lower part of the foundation, with the present sandstone 
slab over the grave placed over the vault, and left so that the 
weight overhead will not bear on any part of the recumbent 
slab. 

All the loose stones and earth in connection with the present 
grave are to be taken out, and the new foundation started on 
solid rock. The foundation to be made of stone found on the 
island, and set with the best Portland cement. The top foun- 
dation stones coming in contact with the monument to be of 
rectangular, large size blocks of granite, all to be laid in the 
best cement mortar, and all joints and interstices in the entire 
foundation to be grouted with best Portland cement at every 
course. The top beds of all stone to be made fair, pene-ham- 
mered work, so that no water can run into the beds from the 
bed joints, and the bottom beds made with a good bearing all 
over. 

Each stone of the obelisk will have two dowels inserted in 
its top bed, and made secure with molten lead, so as to receive 
the upper stone, having holes cut to receive the dowels. The 
dowels to be of gun metal, two and a half inches in diameter 
and six inches in length, to reach into each stone three inches, 
and to be placed where directed. 

The vertical joints on washes of base and plinth to be run 
and filled with molten lead. The under beds of all stones to 
have a perfect bearing, to get the weight distributed equally. 

The whole, as specified, to be set up in place at the Isles of 
Shoals to the satisfaction of Timothy P. Sullivan of Concord, 
New Hampshire, or his representative; the time of completion 
to be not later than August 1, 1914. 

Signed: B. A. Kimball, for Edward Tuck. 

Pigeon Hill Granite Company, 

By Edgar Knowlton, Assistant Treasurer. 



During the spring of 1914 the work of construction 
proceeded under the superintendence of Mr. Sullivan. 
No expense was spared to make the monument perfect, 
both in material and workmanship. Each of the large 
blocks fitted accurately, and was put in place without 
the least accident under the direction of Edgar Knowl- 
ton, superintendent of the company. 

The monument is ten feet square at the base, and 
forty-six feet, six inches, in height. The inscription, 
containing about six hundred letters, square sunk one 
quarter of an inch, in smooth surface finely rubbed, 
occupies thirteen feet vertically of one side of the shaft. 
The obelisk is in large blocks, and is designed after the 
Egyptian dimensions established as a standard thousands 
of years ago. 

The foundation is of granite blocks from the Pigeon 
Hill Granite Company, Rockport, Massachusetts, com- 
bined with others suitable, found near the site. All 
are compactly laid in Portland cement mortar. Twenty 
barrels of the mixture were required for this work. 
The foundation is laid on the solid ledge, and is thirteen 
feet square on the ledge and six feet in height to the 
bottom of the first base stone. About one foot and six 
inches from the lower part of the foundation is a vault, 
formed for a casket to contain the remains of the Rev. 
John Tucke. The casket was imbedded in a solid mass 
of cement. 

The original slab of red sandstone was laid on the 
smooth concrete surface of the vault, with its inscription 
facing the east, in almost the same position as over the 
old grave. On the end of the old slab were found, cut 
in small letters, the initials "T. N. B.," which were 
probably those of the stone-cutter who executed the 
lettering one hundred and fourteen years before. 

On the forenoon of May 26, 1914, the grave of the 



8 



Rev. John Tucke was opened, and his remains exhumed 
and placed in the casket. The skull and the large 
bones of the body were in as good a state of preservation 
as might be expected after a lapse of one hundred and 
forty years; but when moved by hand or trowel they 
crumbled into bits. The exhumation was made under 
the direction of Mr. Sullivan, assisted by three men from 
the constructing force. 

Although the Tucke memorial stands in practically 
the only place on the island where interments could be 
made, the excavation, which went down to the granite 
ledge, disturbed little except boulders and sand. Tradi- 
tion says that many of the early inhabitants of Star 
Island lie interred in this area; but the ends of two 
graves only were encountered, and these were in no way 
disturbed. 

Considerable machinery was used in setting up the 
monument, a task which required much time and skill. 
Everything had to be transported from the mainland. 
The blocks of stone weighed from nine to eleven tons 
each. Eight horses could not haul them over the rough 
ledges, and ropes, pulleys, and an engine had to be 
used. Three weeks were required for the hauling and 
setting of the stones, and another week was needed for 
the grading and finishing. All the machinery and 
material was transported in the Pigeon Hill Company's 
boat, and an extra trip was made with a load of soil and 
turf to grade the circular lot. 

Wednesday, July 29, was appointed as the day for 
dedication. About five weeks previously invitations 
were sent to the members of the Society by the Secre- 
tary, Otis G. Hammond, Superintendent of the library. 
It was announced that transportation from Portsmouth 
wharf and return, and tickets to the luncheon at the 
Oceanic Hotel would be provided for all those who sig- 
nified their intention of being present. 



Members and friends to the number of two hundred 
and thirty-eight responded to this generous invitation. 
It was a representative and distinguished company of 
men and women, not only from New Hampshire, but 
from Maine and Massachusetts, and some from more 
distant points. A hundred went from Concord, and this 
number received constant accessions from Manchester 
and other points on the road. Many people motored in 
from the neighboring beaches. 

It was a beautiful day, and a fresh breeze blew all the 
clouds inland. The steamer Nassau from Boston, 
specially chartered for the occasion, left Jones's wharf 
at ten o'clock, making the trip in an hour. Arriving 
at Star Island the company proceeded to the monu- 
ment, which stands a short distance southeast of the 
quaint little stone church where candle-light services are 
still held as in days of yore. Everyone was impressed 
by the dignity and beauty of the obelisk, which stands 
forty-six and one-half feet high, and can be seen from 
ten miles out at sea. The shaft tapers in the same pro- 
portions as the monument at Bunker Hill. 

After the dedicatory exercises, which are printed in 
full on subsequent pages, the company proceeded to a 
near-by eminence, directly overlooking the sea, where a 
bronze tablet was unveiled to the memory of Captain 
John Smith, the discoverer of these Isles three hundred 
years ago. The exercises at this monument were under 
the direction of the New Hampshire Society of Colonial 
Wars, most of whose members also belong to the His- 
torical Society. The day was made doubly interesting 
by the two events so nearly alike in character. 

Adjournment was then taken to the convention hall 
of the Oceanic hotel, where an interesting and scholarly 
address on Rev. John Tucke was delivered by Rev. 
Alfred Gooding of Portsmouth. This was followed by 



10 



an able paper on Captain John Smith by Justin Harvey 
Smith of Boston, Governor of the New Hampshire 
Society of Colonial Wars. 

At two o'clock a luncheon was served in the dining- 
room, which was followed by a brilliant program of 
after-dinner speaking, with Mr. Wallace Hackett of 
Portsmouth as toastmaster. The original announce- 
ment was somewhat changed because of the unavoid- 
able absence of Gov. William T. Haines of Maine and 
President Lowell of Harvard University. Gen. Jona- 
than Prince Cilley of Rockland, Maine, occupied the 
absent Governor's seat at table, and Harvard University 
was ably represented by Prof. Tufts of Phillips Exeter 
Academy. 

An interesting feature of the dinner was the presence 
of three lineal descendants of the Rev. John Tucke. 
These were Rev. William Albert Rand of South Sea- 
brook, New Hampshire, his only child, Mrs. Helen 
Paul Dempsey, wife of Edward F. Dempsey of Salis- 
bury, Massachusetts, and his only grandchild, Helen 
Frances Dempsey, aged nineteen years. Rev. W. A. 
Rand is the grandson of Mary Tuck Rand of Rye, New 
Hampshire, whose father, Rev. John Tuck of Epsom, 
New Hampshire, was the youngest child of Rev. John 
Tucke of the Shoals. Rev. W. A. Rand was born at 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 30, 1842, was a 
corporal in Company K, 16th N. H. Vols., during the Civil 
War, and was installed as pastor of the Congregational 
Church in South Seabrook, January 27, 1867, being 
now in the forty-eighth year of his ministry. There 
were also present several who could prove their descent 
from Jonathan Tucke, elder brother of the Rev. John 
Tucke. These were George Oliver Tuck, D.D.S., of 
Gloucester, Massachusetts, his son, Albert Everett Tuck, 
D.D.S., Rockport, Massachusetts, and the latter's twin 



II 



sons, born January 7, 1904, George Loring Tuck and 
Walter Flint Tuck. These boys were probably the 
youngest persons attending the banquet. Their grand- 
father, Dr. G. O. Tuck, is fifth in descent from Jonathan 
Tucke. 

Mrs. Ellen Tuck Stevens of Concord, who was present 
with her husband, Henry W. Stevens, one of the Trustees 
of the Society, is a niece of Edward Tuck, the giver of 
the memorial, and is also fifth in descent from Jonathan 
Tucke. 

The return trip was made on the steamer Nassau, 
which left Star Island at four o'clock. Every arrange- 
ment for the dedication was perfectly carried out, and 
it was the general opinion of those privileged to be 
present that the occasion was one of the most interesting 
and important ever conducted by the New Hampshire 
Historical Society. 



DEDICATORY EXERCISES 
Star Island, July 29, 1914. 



Invocation by Rev. Samuel Howard Dana, D.D. 

A LMIGHTY GOD, our Heavenly Father, who in Thy 
**■ loving kindness hath brought us unto this day and 
this place and this service, give unto us Thy benediction 
as we gather here, and let the words we speak and the 
deeds we do meet with Thine approval. We thank Thee 
for the holy men of old, who went up on the heights 
and looked in the face of God, and gave their revelation 
to others, and for those who came afterwards and went 
out into the wilderness and gave of their knowledge to 
men. Especially this day do we thank Thee for him 
who came to this island, who looked into the face of the 
Heavenly Father, and who here served his Lord and 
Master, and taught others by his life, as well as by his 
words, of the Good Shepherd; who was himself a good 
shepherd and a good physician, caring for the souls and 
for the bodies of his fellowmen, a man who "did justice 
and loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God." 

And now we would consecrate this place and this mon- 
ument to him and to his memory, to what he was, to 
what he did, to the character that was in him; and we 
ask that this place and monument may ever be held 
sacred to the memory of that servant of God and friend 
of man, and to all those who lead lives of service for their 
fellowmen, knowing that they can serve God only as 
they serve men. In Christ's name, Amen. 



14 

Presentation to the Society of the Land Upon 
Which the Monument Stands by Mr. Charles 
Albert Hazlett, Representing the Piscataqua 
Savings Bank. 

By request of the owners of Star Island, I have the 
pleasure of presenting to the New Hampshire Historical 
Society this deed of a circular tract of this island, sixty 
feet in diameter, containing the graves of Rev. John 
Tucke and Rev. Josiah Stevens. 



Acceptance by Mr. Frank Sherwin Streeter, 
President. 

In the name and on behalf of the New Hampshire 
Historical Society this deed is accepted, with high appre- 
ciation of the generous public spirit which inspires the 
donor in making this gift. 



Presentation of the Monument by Mr. Benjamin 
Ames Kimball, Representing Mr. Edward Tuck. 

On August 30, 1913, Edward Tuck sent me his corre- 
spondence with Dr. Joseph W. Warren of Harrisburg, 
Pa., and also with others, relative to the condition of the 
tablet on Star Island which was erected in 1800 to the 
memory of the Rev. John Tucke. The original stone 
was rapidly disintegrating, and I was requested to 
investigate the conditions and suggest a lasting monu- 
ment to the pioneer minister. A shaft after the pro- 
portions of an Egyptian obelisk was recommended, and 
plans and specifications for the memorial now before us 
were sent to Mr. Tuck for his approval. He cabled his 
endorsement of the sketches and suggestions, and 
authorized the execution and erection of the monument 
upon this spot, land which has been deeded to the New 



15 

Hampshire Historical Society by the Piscataqua Sav- 
ings Bank of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And now, 
by the authority of Mr. Tuck and in his behalf, I present 
to you, Mr. President of the New Hampshire Historical 
Society, this monument, to be cared for under the terms 
of the deed of land by the Piscataqua Savings Bank 
which has just been presented to you. 

Mr. Tuck, in erecting this monument to the memory 
of the Rev. John Tucke, did not intend it as a memorial 
to commemorate the deeds of a distinguished citizen of 
other days, but rather to manifest in enduring form his 
appreciation and respect for the memory of a sincere 
and righteous man who spent his life on this island 
doing good to those about him. 

The letters on the shaft tell the story of Rev. John 
Tucke's simple, self-sacrificing labors among the people 
of the Isles of Shoals, whose minister, teacher, and 
bearer of burdens he continued during his stay of more 
than forty years. A graduate of our oldest college, 
receiving his degree from Harvard in 1723, an associate 
of learned men, accustomed to social intercourse, he 
willingly turned away and sought what seems to us, and 
possibly seemed to him, a dreary and uneventful exile 
for the remainder of his life. But duty called him here, 
and he gave to it the full measure of devotion. To us it 
may be difficult to understand why Mr. Tucke left for- 
ever the mainland, with all its bright promises, to cast his 
lot among the rough and uncongenial fishermen of Star 
Island, but we all know that he did it; therefore our 
speculations as to his motives would be useless. This 
was his vineyard, and the laborers were few. As we 
read the annals of these islands we learn how great a 
power for good he was, and we acknowledge in him those 
attributes that mark the man, no matter where we find 
him. His constant faith and resolute purpose stamp 



i6 



him as no ordinary person, even in that age of conscien- 
tious and God-fearing men. Tradition informs us of the 
never-lessening influence he exerted among the hard 
and turbulent members of his little parish, who were 
prone to rebel against too much discipline. Surely he 
must have possessed singular ability and wisdom to con- 
trol the passions and keep in hand the wild dispositions 
of his Gosport congregation. But he managed affairs 
in his own way, so that at his death he left his people in a 
state of prosperity such as they had never before known. 

When we reflect on the steady course of this man's 
life through his long ministry of toil and self-denial, we 
surely recognize a strong link in that chain of old New 
England clergymen who did much to make and shape 
our early history, men who stood for right living, who 
gave all to their calling, contented with work well done, 
and passed from earth ignorant of worldly ambition and 
worldy emolument. How much such men contributed 
to the social well-being and self-reliant character of our 
people we are beginning to realize; and we appreciate 
more and more that in the lives of those men can be 
found the seeds of our nation's greatness. 

And so it seems to me that we come nearer to under- 
standing the career of John Tucke, so long the humble 
minister of Gosport. His example is worthy of our re- 
membrance, for his simple life, with an ambition to do 
good and be of service to his fellowmen, was all the glory 
he sought, and greater glory no man can have. That the 
lesson of his life may not be forgotten, but rather that it 
may be kept alive to coming generations, is the desire 
of his remote kinsman and fellow American, Edward 
Tuck. 



17 



Acceptance by Mr. Frank Sherwin Streeter, 
President of the Society. 

By its original constitution this Society, among other 
things, dedicated itself "to discover, secure and preserve 
whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary and 
ecclesiastical history of the United States in general 
and of this state in particular." 

It is with especial gratification that we are now enabled 
to dedicate a monument to the memory of the type of 
man of which the Reverend John Tucke was so notable 
an example. 

We build monuments to commemorate great historic 
events, statesmen, generals, and others, who by their 
achievements have made themselves conspicuously 
worthy of remembrance by the world. This monument 
is erected to the memory of one whose chief distinction 
was his unselfish devotion, in an inconspicuous field, to 
the spiritual and social betterment of a community of 
obscure and ignorant fisherfolk, undistinguished by 
either sobriety or good morals. With these people he 
lived as pastor, physician, friend, and helper for more 
than forty years, because that was his conception of his 
personal duty toward them. 

I cannot wholly agree with Mr. Kimball in saying, 
"It may be difficult for us to understand why Mr. 
Tucke, a graduate of Harvard, and accustomed to social 
intercourse, left forever the mainland, with all its bright 
promises, to cast his lot among the rough and uncon- 
genial fishermen of Star Island." 

Does not his rugged New England conscience explain 
his choice? He believed that he could better answer 
that "stern daughter of the voice of God," his duty, by 
casting his lot with the rude fishermen on this island 
than by living a life of ease and comfort on the mainland. 



18 



It is fitting that this monument should stand as an en- 
during memorial of such a life, and of the value of simple 
and unselfish service to one's fellowmen. 

In accepting this memorial shaft the New Hampshire 
Historical Society again recognizes its lasting obligations 
to the builder and donor, Edward Tuck, the record of 
whose generous gifts to his state, his college, and this 
society constitute an enduring monument in the hearts 
of his fellow-citizens. 

To Reverend John Tucke of a former generation we 
dedicate this monument as a memorial of the unselfish 
consecration of his life to the betterment of his fellows. 
To his kinsman of today we pay our tribute of honor 
and affectionate regard in recognition of his great bene- 
factions for the public good of his native state. 

This society, in compliance with the public purposes 
of its founders, hereby accepts the trusts imposed by the 
grantors of the land and by the builder and donor of 
this monument, and assumes its care and preservation 
in accordance with the terms of the deed of gift and the 
generous purposes of the givers. 



REVEREND JOHN TUCKE 

By Reverend Alfred Gooding. 

A MONG the early settlements in America I know of 
^*~ but one that has so utterly disappeared that the only 
trace of it left is a little graveyard. That is the settle- 
ment that existed in these islands. It is supposed that 
there was a fishing station here long before Champlain, 
in his account of a voyage along the New England 
coast in 1605, spoke of "Three or four rather prominent 
islands" off the coast of what is now New Hampshire. 
Capt. John Smith, who visited the islands in 1614 and 
named them after himself, tells of the wonderful fishing 
to be had there. " He is a very bad fisher," says Smith, 
"that cannot kill in one day with his hook and line one, 
two, or three hundred cods, and is it not pretty sport 
to pull up two pence, six pence, and twelve pence, as 
fast as you can hale and veare a line? " Captain Leavitt, 
who arrived here in the spring of 1622, wrote: "The first 
place I set foot upon in New England was the Isles of 
Shoulds, being islands in the sea about two leagues from 
the main. Upon these islands I neither could see one 
good timber tree, nor so much ground as to make a 
garden. The place is found to be a good fishing place 
for six ships, but more cannot well be there, for want of 
convenient stage room, as this year's experience hath 
proved. The harbor is but indifferent good. Upon 
these islands are no savages at all." 

It appears, then, that the Shoals were a much visited 
and important fishing station before any settlement at 



20 



all was made upon the mainland. Nor did it long re- 
main a mere fishing station. By the middle of the seven- 
teenth century it had become permanently colonized. 
Many substantial and well-furnished houses had been 
built, and the resident population numbered six hun- 
dred. There was a meeting-house, a court-house, and a 
tavern on Smutty Nose Island, a bowling alley and a 
brewery on Hog Island, now Appledore. Herds of 
cattle and flocks of sheep abounded. Some of the richest 
men- in New England lived there, and left large estates 
valued at from two hundred to seven hundred pounds. 
It was an important center of trade, and had its large 
distributing warehouses. As early as 1636, says Jen- 
ness, "Thomas Mayhew visited the Shoals for the pur- 
pose of purchasing so large a quantity as eighty hogs- 
heads of provisions at one time, and expended one 
hundred pounds sterling in imported 'ruggs and 
coates.' " Curiously enough the Shoals were also a cen- 
ter of foreign news brought over by its ships. Gorges 
wrote to Winthrop in 1640: "I cannot send you news 
from England because the contrariety of winds hath 
hindered it from coming from the Isles of Shoals." How 
astonishing to think of the Shoals as the chief source of 
news from abroad. It was evidently no common little 
fishing place in those remote days. It apparently pos- 
sessed not only wealth but refinement. We are even told 
that on Smutty Nose there was "a seminary of such 
repute that even gentlemen from some of the towns on 
the sea coast sent their sons there for literary instruc- 
tion." 

Politically the islands shared the fate of the neigh- 
boring mainland, coming under the rule of Massachu- 
setts. In 1 661 a petition to the Massachusetts Gen- 
eral Court to be created a separate township was 
granted. The whole group was to be called "Aple- 



21 



doore," from the Devonshire fishing village of that name. 
In 1679, when New Hampshire was separated from 
Massachusetts and made into a royal province, the group 
of islands was divided, the northern half, comprising 
Hog Island and Smutty Nose, being assigned to Maine, 
and the southern half, including Star and White Islands, 
becoming a part of New Hampshire. This division 
caused a remarkable shifting of population. Prior to 
1679 most of the people had dwelt on Hog Island and 
Smutty Nose. Probably in order to avoid the burden 
of Massachusetts taxation, the majority of them now 
moved to Star Island, and in 17 15 it was created a 
township under the name of Gosport (God's Port). 

The religious as well as the political history of the 
islands followed that of the mainland. The earliest 
church in Portsmouth, for instance, was Episcopalian. 
Its minister was the Rev. Richard Gibson, who preached 
there in 1 639-1 640. We know the site of his church and 
of the house in which he lived. He was settled at the 
Shoals in 1641, but when New Hampshire came under 
the control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony there was 
no longer any chance for Episcopalianism in this region. 
The church at Portsmouth became Puritan, and a 
Puritan minister, the Rev. John Brock, was sent to the 
Shoals, where he lived from 1650 to 1662. His contem- 
poraries apparently thought very highly of him. One 
of them said: "I scarce ever knew any man. so familiar 
with the great God as his dear servant Brock." Under 
the motto "Fides in vita" Cotton Mather devotes the 
first chapter of the fourth book of his Magnalia to an 
account of the life of Mr. Brock. "His chief learning," 
says Mather, "was his goodness," and he goes on to de- 
scribe the character of Brock in the following quaint 
terms: "He was a good grammarian, chiefly in this, that 
he still spoke the truth from his heart. He was a good 



22 



logician, chiefly in this, that he presented himself unto 
God with a reasonable service. He was a good arith- 
metician, chiefly in this, that he so numbered his days 
as to apply his heart unto wisdom. He was a good 
astronomer, chiefly in this, that his conversation was 
in heaven." Mather then goes on to state what he calls 
"some few Remarkables" in the experience of Mr. 
Brock while minister at the Shoals, the most remarkable 
of which is perhaps the following: "When Mr. Brock 
lived on the Isles of Shoales he brought the people into 
an agreement, that, beside the Lord's Days, they would 
spend one day of every month together in the worship 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. On a certain day, which by 
their agreement belonged unto the exercises of religion, 
being arrived, the fishermen came to Mr. Brock and 
asked him that they might put by their meeting and go 
afishing, because they had lost many days by the foul- 
ness of the weather. He, seeing that without and against 
his consent they resolved upon doing what they had 
asked of him, replied "If you will go away, I say unto 
you 'catch fish if you can'! But as for you that will 
tarry and worship the Lord Jesus Christ this day, I 
will pray unto Him for you that you may take fish till 
you are weary." Thirty men went away from the meet- 
ing and five tarried. The thirty which went away from 
the meeting, with all their skill, could catch but four 
fishes. The five which tarried went forth afterwards, and 
they took five hundred. The fishermen after this read- 
ily attended whatever meetings Mr. Brock appointed 
them." 

Brock's ministry covered a portion of what Mr. Jen- 
ness, in his historical sketch of the Isles of Shoals, calls 
the golden age of the Islands, when "their population 
was larger than at any other point in the Eastern prov- 
inces; trade and commerce were extensive; the fisheries 



23 

were pursued with activity; the little harbor was rilled 
with shallops and pinnaces; the neighboring sea was 
dotted with sails sweeping in and out; the rocks re- 
sounded with clamor and bustled with business. Every- 
where boisterous hilarity, animal enjoyment, exuberant 
spirits, cheerful and varied activity." " It was a motley 
population," continues Jenness, "with all the reckless 
and improvident habits of sailors and fishermen, and with 
all their hardihood, courage, and spirit of adventure 
their 'fearful trade' taught them such life- 
long lessons of self-reliance as almost to obliterate from 
their minds the very sense of divine protection and aid." 
Among such a people there was need of a capable min- 
ister. They were noted for their indifference to the 
law, their insubordination, their hostility to taxation, and 
their habits of gross intemperance. In Hubbard's His- 
tory of New England there is a long list of fatal accidents 
happening to inhabitants of the Shoals who had become 
helplessly intoxicated. The court records contain the 
names of men who were convicted of being common drunk- 
ards, profane swearers and the like. John Andrews, for 
instance, in 1666 was convicted of "swearing, by the 
blood of Christ, that he was above the heavens and 
the stars, at which time the said Andrews did seem to 
have drunke too much, and did at that time call the 
witnesses doggs, toads and foul birds." Into this com- 
munity in the year 1732 came the man whose memory 
we celebrate here today by the dedication of this monu- 
ment. John Tucke was born August 23, 1702, at 
Hampton, N. H., where his great-grandfather, emigrating 
from Gorlston, Suffolk, England, settled about the year 
1636. Tucke was a graduate of Harvard College in the 
class of 1723. His name stands seventeenth in the list 
of forty-three graduates of that year given in the Quin- 
quennial Catalogue. Prior to the year 1770 the names 



2 4 

of each year's graduates were arranged in the catalogue 
not in the order of scholarship, but in the order of social 
rank. From which we may judge that the name of 
Tucke stood tolerably high in the social order of the 
time. He married Mary Dole of Hampton November 
24, 1724, and, after declining a call to the church at 
Chester, was ordained to the ministry at Star Island on 
the 26th of July, 1732. The sermon was given by Rev. 
Jabez Fitch of Portsmouth from the obviously appro- 
priate text, "I will make you fishers of men." Mr. 
Tucke spent his life in the service of the people who 
lived upon these islands, his ministry covering a period 
of more than forty years. Rev. Jedediah Morse, who 
wrote a "Description of the Isles of Shoals" which was 
printed in the collections of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society for the year 1800, said of Mr. Tucke: 
"Mr. Tucke was a man of an affable and amiable dis- 
position, of easy and polite manners, of humble and 
unaffected piety, of diligence and fidelity in the service 
of the ministry. He was ' given to hospitality and apt to 
teach.' In history and geography he was eminently 
learned, beyond most of his contemporaries. He acted 
in the double capacity of physician of body and of soul. 
In imitation of his divine master he went about doing 
good among all classes of the people of his charge, and 
his labors were not in vain in the Lord. Under his 
nurturing, pastoral care his people increased in numbers 
and in wealth, in knowledge, piety, and respectability. 
Few parishes in New England at this period gave a more 
generous support to their minister, and few congrega- 
tions were more constant and exemplary in their at- 
tendance on public worship. Such is the account of the 
character of this venerable man, and of the fruits of his 
labors, which I have received from many aged and 
respectable people who were personally acquainted with 
him." 



25 

That his people appreciated his services is shown by 
their liberal support. When they called him to their 
ministry they offered him a salary of one hundred and 
ten pounds per annum, old tenor, and fifty pounds 
toward the cost of building a house for himself on a lot 
of his own choosing, which they also presented to him. 
Some years later they increased his salary by paying the 
minister in fish, a quintal per man, which at the current 
price for fish amounted to about one hundred guineas 
per annum, said to have been one of the largest salaries 
paid at that time in New England. They also, besides 
helping to build a parsonage for him, supplied him with 
wood for heating it, no insignificant matter. The 
minister who has no rent to pay and no fuel to buy is 
at once relieved of two very important items of house- 
hold expense. No doubt Mr. Tucke lived very comfort- 
ably on Star Island. He is said to have possessed an 
admirable library, and abundant leisure for study must 
have been his in that remote parish, with its entire free- 
dom from all outside interests and from the thousand 
and one demands upon the minister's time which he 
can escape only by going to sea. To be minister at the 
Shoals had all the advantages of being afloat and none 
of its disadvantages. On the whole Mr. Tucke's min- 
istry must have been a highly satisfactory one. For 
more than forty years he was the guide and friend of this 
unusual group of people. His parish was co-extensive 
with the islands. Everybody turned to him both in 
sorrow and in sickness, for he was their physician as 
well as their minister. Evidently he possessed the 
respect and affection of all. The inscription upon his 
tombstone, although written thirty years after his 
death, probably describes faithfully the feeling toward 
him of those whom he served so long and well. 

"He was affable and polite in his manner, 
Amiable in his disposition, 



26 



Of great piety and integrity, given to hospitality, 

Diligent and faithful in his pastoral office, 

Well learned in History and Geography, as well as 

General Science, 

And a careful physician both to the bodies and the 

Souls of his People." 

Politeness and amiability, piety and hospitality! 
The representative of these virtues must have been an 
ideal minister for the community that occupied these 
islands. No doubt its deterioration and decay were long 
deferred by the presence here and the influence of such 
a man as John Tucke. We know what happened soon 
after his death in 1773. At the beginning of the Ameri- 
can Revolution many of the islanders moved to the 
mainland, since it was supposed that the Shoals would 
be specially subject to attack by British ships. So few 
people were left that they were no longer able to support 
a minister. They rapidly fell into a state of heathen- 
ism; profanity, drunkenness, and worse vices prevailed 
among them, and in the year 1790 the old meeting-house 
was pulled down and used for fuel. It was fitting that 
the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the 
Indians and Others in North America should establish 
a mission to the Shoals in the year 1799, for the inhabit- 
ants had become worse than any Indians. The story 
of this society's long, faithful, and partly successful 
labors to re-establish religion and civilization at Gosport 
does not belong here, but is certainly worth reading. 
The need for the faithful missionary came to an end in 
the early seventies, when the old fishing village disap- 
peared and the islands became a summer resort. 

Within the last two years two noteworthy things have 
been done tending to preserve the memory of the faith- 
ful minister who devoted his long life to the people who 
inhabited these islands. One is the placing over his 
grave of this granite shaft by Mr. Edward Tuck, bear- 



27 

ing the admirable inscription written in the year 1800 
for the stone tablet, which was fast becoming illegible. 
Its words of discriminating praise are now in no danger 
of being forgotten. The other thing which has been 
done lately, involving the perpetuation of Mr. Tucke's 
memory, is the careful publication by Dr. Joseph W. 
Warren in the New England Historical and Genealogical 
Register of the records of Gosport church and town. 
John Tucke figures largely in these interesting documents. 
Indeed, the records begin with his coming to Gosport, 
and we probably owe them to his initiative. The vote 
to call him to the ministry at the Shoals, the amount 
of his salary, the contribution of fifty pounds toward 
the building of a parsonage, the gift of a house site and 
"a. garden spot," and permission to keep a cow on the 
island are all carefully recorded, and later on there 
appears each year the vote to pay the minister's salary 
in "winter fish." Dr. Warren has proved from these 
records that the long accepted date of Mr. Tucke's 
death recorded on the old gravestone, August 12, 1773, 
is incorrect, for he shows that Mr. Tucke entered upon 
the church book the baptism of two children as of August 
15, and that he probably died late in August, since a 
notice of his death appears in the New Hampshire 
Gazette of September 3, 1773. 

The publication of these interesting old records was 
certainly worth while. They perpetuate among us the 
history of a curious and picturesque community which 
has itself entirely disappeared, these historical records 
of which it would be a pity to allow to remain practically 
unknown. With their publication, and with the placing 
of this permanent monument, we have a sufficient 
memorial of the people who once inhabited these is- 
lands and of him who was ordained here to their ministry, 
and for nearly half a century devoted himself to their 
truest well-being. 



Luncheon was then served at the Oceanic Hotel, after 
which Mr. Wallace Hackett, as toastmaster, presided. 



TOASTS AND RESPONSES 
Mr. Hackett, Toastmaster. 

The New Hampshire Historical Society and the com- 
mittee having in charge the ceremonies of today are very 
much gratified at the large attendance of their friends 
and members. 

No more appropriate place and no more appropriate 
occasion could be selected for a gathering of the New 
Hampshire Historical Society. The fitness of the occa- 
sion is emphasized by the fact that a few years ago in 
Rochester in this state a simple monument was erected 
in the public square to the memory of Parson Main, long 
settled in that community. On that occasion President 
Murkland stated that those early ministers, who were 
pioneers not only in religion but in scholarship and 
medicine, and by their example were leaders in the broad 
paths of civilization, exercised an influence entirely out 
of proportion to that of members of the profession at the 
present time, and that it was time their memory was 
honored by some substantial monument. 

Whatever was said of Parson Main in Rochester is 
doubly true of Parson Tucke at the Shoals, who passed 
forty years of his life in this community, separated from 
his friends, relatives, books, institutions of learning, and 
the society of men of similar tastes. 

As to the appropriateness of the place, this spot which 
we have marked today was the scene of a flourishing 
community long before the settlement of Strawberry 
Bank in 1623. It was here that the first adventurers 
built their houses and started the work of fishing. One 



30 

of the early ministers, reproving his congregation, stated 
that they had departed from the paths of their fore- 
fathers, who came here to exercise the privilege of relig- 
ious liberty. He was interrupted by one of his congre- 
gation saying: "Not so; our forefathers came here to 
fish and to trade." 

This was eminently true of the settlement at the Shoals. 
The islands were free from woods and ready to build on; 
the fish were abundant; and, beyond all, the Indians, 
who were often troublesome on the main, seldom came 
as far as these islands. 

It is a rare event in the history of the State of New 
Hampshire when the Governor comes to visit this re- 
mote and outlying portion of his jurisdiction. If the 
Shoals have sent no Governor to Concord, it is equally 
true that Concord has sent very few Governors to the 
Shoals. Our present Governor, however, believes in 
breaking over traditions, and we are glad to welcome 
today as the representative of the State of New Hamp- 
shire its chief executive Governor Samuel D. Felker. 



THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 
By His Excellency Samuel D. Felker. 

New Hampshire owes a great deal to the New Hamp- 
shire Historical Society. Away back in its beginning 
it commenced to collect data for the benefit of us all. 
It seems to me it might use its influence to induce every 
town in the whole state to mark places of similar interest 
to the one here, and thus keep in memory forever the 
spots where great achievements of the past have been 
accomplished. 

That the history of New Hampshire may be written 
and well written later on, the State of New Hampshire 



31 

now has a force of young girls working in the capitol 
copying the records of every town and city in this state. 
It will take several years to complete this work. In 
this way there may be gathered up from stray leaves 
some historical facts which perhaps have not been com- 
pletely recorded in the past, and these will help to form 
a true basis for the history of these early settlers. 

My mind, as I sat here, turned back to the time of 
those early settlers three hundred years ago, and to those 
early ministers, the troubles and trials that they endured, 
but beyond everything their adaptability as ministers to 
the people who lived here. Mr. Tucke was not only their 
minister but their physician. He was not only their 
physician but, as I am told, he kept the books at 
some little country store. He kept the records of his 
church. He did everything that the demands of the 
times and of his people called for. Such a man must 
make his impression. 

If the ministers today are to make an impression upon 
the community, they must adapt themselves to the 
community and interest the community in the church. 
Some say that we are going to do everything by union 
of the churches. I doubt it very much. For the differ- 
ent forms of religion arise largely from different forms 
of sentiment rather than reason. I am a Methodist 
because my sentiment runs in that direction. I am a 
Congregationalist because my sentiment runs in that 
direction. Some say the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation, which does everything for men, will solve the 
problem of the religious uplift of the day. Some say 
that a social center will solve such a problem. Now, 
cooperation and right demarcation between different 
kinds of society, and helping hands, will do a great deal 
more. I was in Keene last Monday night, and the 
manager of the Chautauqua there said : " It will take two 



32 

men four hours to clear this place of these chairs. Now, 
if every man and woman who has a seat in the tent will 
take a chair and deposit it on the outside it will be done 
in just three minutes." And it was done. That is 
what cooperation can do and will do in every commu- 
nity if you can get the right spirit; and that is the spirit 
New Hampshire demands today, and that not only of 
the ministers but of the congregations themselves, 
cooperation in divergency. 

I do not believe that either the Young Men's Christian 
Association, the Grange, or a social center will solve this 
problem, but all efforts must be adapted to each local 
community. There must be brought to the church 
leadership and real vision. The minister must be on 
the ground, sharing, not a part, but the whole life of 
his people. 

Mr. Hackett, Toastmaster. 

Harvard College, where John Tucke graduated in 1723, 
is appropriately represented here today. We recall with 
pleasure that in the early days of that great and venerable 
institution the little settlement of Portsmouth volun- 
tarily taxed itself, and contributed one hundred pounds 
a year for three years to the support of Harvard College. 

President Lowell, who confidently expected to be here 
today, has been obliged to change his plans. But under 
the great seal of the University he has appointed to 
represent her one of her most loyal sons, Professor James 
A. Tufts of Phillips Exeter Academy. 



33 

HARVARD COLLEGE AND REV. JOHN TUCKE 
By Professor James Arthur Tufts. 

I have the honor to represent Harvard College, the 
Alma Mater of him to whose memory we dedicate this 
monument. 

John Tucke graduated at Harvard College in 1723, 
the seventeenth, socially, in his class of forty-three 
members, eighteen of whom became ministers. Indeed, 
in the first century of the college nearly one-half of the 
graduates became ministers. It was a period of relig- 
ious controversies. President Leverett was opposed by 
the Mathers, and was attacked by Samuel Sewall on the 
ground that there had been some "intermission of the ex- 
position of the Scriptures of late." His religion, we are 
told, was enlightened and liberal. To his firmness and 
that of his associates under circumstances of great trial, 
and in opposition to an almost overwhelming power, the 
college is, probably, in a great measure indebted for its 
religious freedom today. 

In Mr. Tucke's time the college consisted of three 
buildings, Massachusetts Hall, built in 1720 at public 
expense, old Harvard Hall, built in 1682 with money 
raised from various towns and individuals, and old 
Stoughton. In 1721 the first professorship, that of 
divinity, was founded by an Englishman, Thomas 
Hollis. In 1725 the college faculty was organized. In 
1726 a professorship of mathematics was founded. 

A quotation from a report of a committee of the Board 
of Overseers in 1723 throws a strong light upon college 
life of the time. "Although there is a considerable num- 
ber of virtuous and studious youth in the college, yet 
there has been a practice of several immoralities, particu- 
larly stealing, lying, swearing, idleness, picking of locks, 
and too frequent use of strong drink . . . the schol- 



34 

ars are many of them too long absent from the college 
. . . the scholars do generally spend too much of the 
Saturday evenings in one another's chambers . . . 
the Freshmen, as well as others, are seen in great numbers 
going into town (Cambridge) on Sabbath mornings to 
provide breakfasts." Disorder ran high at the com- 
mencements, we are told. In 1722 the "Commencers," 
so-called, were prohibited from providing plum pudding, 
meats, pies, or liquors, and their rooms were visited by 
the Corporation in order to enforce the prohibition. 
Evasion by furnishing "plain cake" might be punished 
with the loss of the degree. It was voted "that the 
butler may not sell his cider for more than two pence per 
quart until the first of February," and resolutions regulat- 
ing the price of bread, meats, cider, etc., were frequently 
adopted by the Corporation or the Board of Overseers. 
We are not told what price the butler might ask for his 
cider after the first of February. 

A committee of the Board of Overseers proposed that 
the laws should be revised, written in Latin, and that a 
copy should be given to each student. Students were 
forbidden to use punch, flip, and like intoxicating drinks; 
those rooming in the college were required to board at 
commons; and it was voted to require better food, clean 
tablecloths of convenient length and breadth twice a 
week, and plates. It was a time, not of checks and 
balances, but of fines. The fine for absence from prayers 
was two pence; for tardiness at prayers, one penny; for 
absence from public worship, nine pence; for tardiness 
at public worship, three pence; for ill behavior at public 
worship or irreverent behavior at prayers, one shilling 
and six pence. What wonder that John Tucke should 
choose to withdraw to the quiet life of these islands and 
become a fisher of men! We can easily imagine on 
his shield the Harvard mottoes, "Veritas: Christo et 
Ecclesiae." 



35 

Mr. Hackett, Toastmaster. 

Dartmouth College naturally occupies a prominent 
place in our thoughts on an occasion so intimately asso- 
ciated with the family name of Tuck. 

In the early days of the history of this community, 
when Gosport was one of the flourishing settlements of 
the colony, with six hundred inhabitants, merchants and 
commerce of its own, and before Dartmouth College 
emerged from the forests, it sustained here an academy 
or institution of learning, and young people from the 
main were sent here for instruction. Dartmouth Col- 
lege, we are glad to say, has proved the fittest to survive, 
and it is worthily represented today by Mr. Homer 
Eaton Keyes, Business Director, who will speak for 
"Dartmouth College and Edward Tuck." 



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE AND EDWARD TUCK 
By Homer Eaton Keyes. 

It is quite fitting that Dartmouth College should be 
represented here today, and that not merely as a token 
that this ceremonial is of vital interest to New Hamp- 
shire, and hence to the state's oldest and most notable 
institution. The significance of Dartmouth's partici- 
pation goes deeper than that. I take it that this monu- 
ment which has been dedicated today means to all of us 
gathered here not so much a memorial of a man's life, 
not so much the identification of the grave of one who 
lived, as it does the symbol of a very definite ideal, the 
ideal of sacrifice, the submergence of personal ambition, 
— it may be personal welfare — for the larger good. 

And, Mr. Toastmaster, by the same sign I bring you 
Dartmouth College. John Tucke had for nearly half a 



36 

century served in his sea-girt mission when Eleazer 
Wheelock, stirred by a similar impulse of self-sacrifice, 
forced his way through the northern forest, in whose 
depths he and his little band of companions at length 
felled the trees to build the "hutt of logs, without 
stone, brick, glass or nail," first building of Dartmouth 
College. 

That primitive structure has long since been swept 
away, but the expanding college of today, founded by the 
effort of Wheelock, and maintained by struggles, often 
little less heroic, on the part of his successors, stands, 
like this obelisk, a monument to the same noble ideal. 

It is a happy coincidence that our thoughts of John 
Tucke and of Eleazer Wheelock should be united in 
Edward Tuck, kinsman of him to whom we dedicate 
this granite shaft, honored son and most generous bene- 
factor of that college which realizes the other's inspired 
dream. 

Mr. Tuck's giving is, in its way, as distinct a giving 
of self as was theirs. His donations to Dartmouth have 
been ever the expression of a keen personal interest, and 
of a knowledge based always upon the most thorough 
study of conditions. 

He was among the first to perceive the possibilities 
that lay in investigating business principles and codify- 
ing them as a science; hence the founding, endowing, 
and housing of the Tuck School of Administration and 
Finance at Dartmouth College. 

The general academic need for more adequate in- 
struction he helped to meet at Dartmouth by an endow- 
ment of half a million dollars, to be devoted to the 
increase of salaries and to the enlargement of the teach- 
ing staff. His appreciation and love for the finer aspects 
of French culture and civilization have resulted in the 
gift of large additions to the college library equipment 



37 

in the department of Romance languages, and in a 
special foundation to encourage and stimulate the study 
of French. The stately setting of his Alma Mater he has 
enhanced by the construction of a splendid drive, sweep- 
ing up wooded slopes to the broad plateau which her 
buildings dominate. 

These are the larger things. His loyal and generous 
regard is constantly manifest in other ways innumerable; 
no detail of college progress is too small for his interest, 
no outline of educational policy too broad for his com- 
prehension. 

John Tucke and Eleazer Wheelock lived in a period of 
individualism. The term is not altogether in good re- 
pute with those of us who forget that, at its best, this 
individualism means the unhesitating voluntary sacrifice 
of the individual to society. We certainly see this 
manifestation in Tucke and Wheelock. Their watch- 
word was not rights but duty. From them Edward 
Tuck is the direct spiritual heritor. In honoring them, 
dead, we can but pay tribute to him who, living, so 
largely exemplifies their worthiest characteristics. 



Mr. Hackett, Toastmaster. 

For the next speaker I entertain the highest respect. 
He served his native city as chief executive, and retired 
from that position with the honor and esteem of his 
townsmen. For many years he has presided in the 
probate court for Merrimack County. 

He has performed much and excellent work of an 
historical nature, and we confidently look for much more 
in the future from his pen, which is probably the most 
able in that line of research now in New Hampshire. It 
gives me much pleasure to present to you Judge Charles 
R. Corning of Concord. 



38 

EDWARD TUCK 
By Charles Robert Corning. 

To respond to the call of our toastmaster on this 
occasion is both a privilege and a pleasure. To me it 
is a privilege to speak of Mr. Tuck at any time, and it 
is a pleasure to speak of him as I think he deserves. 
And I can begin, I think, with saying to you that if 
Mr. Tuck's self-esteem were measured by his kindly, 
modest nature and rare beneficence he would probably 
be here today to recite to you the extent and purpose 
of his many generous acts, but that is not his way. 

His voice is silent but his thoughts are with us, and 
he and Mrs. Tuck in their beautiful home across the 
sea are wishing us all the fullest measure of success. 
Edward Tuck was born in Exeter; he prepared for 
college at the famous old academy, and was graduated 
from Dartmouth in 1862. His father, Amos Tuck, was 
an eminent public man of character and political inde- 
pendence, whose name will be long remembered in the 
annals of our state. After his graduation Mr. Tuck 
went to Europe, and soon received an appointment to 
the United States consular service in Paris. He subse- 
quently engaged in banking with a well-known firm, and 
owing to business reasons had his residence in New York 
for several years. He continued the banking business 
until the early eighties, when he finally retired from its 
activities. Although he may have retired from business, 
it must be plain to you who know Mr. Tuck that he 
has never retired from an earnest activity in doing good. 

It is in this sphere that we know him best. You 
have heard of his splendid gifts to his old college, and 
you all have seen and appreciated our noble library in 
Concord, but those by no means complete the list of 
benefactions made by this generous man. Mr. Tuck 



39 

has now lived in Paris many years, but I ask you to 
keep in mind the fact that foreign residence has in no 
degree weakened or lessened his sterling American man- 
hood. Surely Horace had in view a man not unlike 
Edward Tuck when he wrote these suggestive lines: 
"Coelum, non animum mutant, 
qui trans mare currunt," 

which Conington interprets, 
"where'er we range 
It is the sky and not the mind we change." 

Mr. Tuck's Paris home is in the broad and stately 
Champs Elysees, midway from the Place de la Concorde 
to the Arc de Triomphe. 

I have called it his home, and so it is; yet it is a home 
and an art collection in one. To describe its splendid 
objects would compel me to undertake a series of word 
paintings far beyond my power even were this the time 
and place. 

About eight miles distant from Paris in a south- 
westerly direction is the summer home of our friend. 
There we are on historic ground. Vert Mont, comprising 
perhaps twenty acres or more, slopes gradually toward 
the Seine. Mr. Tuck's estate was, in former days, 
a part of the extensive park of Malmaison, owned 
by Empress Josephine. What a wealth of personal and 
imperial history clusters round that spot! Pleasure and 
gaiety, sorrow and tragedy, mingled as never before in 
the lives of two persons, are deeply impressed on the 
annals of that enchanting domain. After the death of 
the Empress in 1814 the estate passed into strange hands. 
First a private citizen, and afterward Christina, the exiled 
Queen of Spain, became the owner. Finally Napoleon 
III acquired the property, which he presented to France. 
With the fall of the empire came the disposition of the 



4 o 

park to various proprietors, but, fortunately, the cele- 
brated castle or chateau was kept by the Republic and 
made a museum of exceeding interest. Vert Mont, you 
see, is inseparably associated with Josephine and the 
golden period of Napoleon. To give you a picture of that 
spot, and to tell you in words about its many charms 
is more than I can undertake on this occasion. Nothing 
short of the camera could make you see those numerous 
and varied objects which I despair of describing. 

But I may say, concerning Vert Mont, that the genius 
of landscape perfection is impressed on one at every 
turn. Banks of flowers and shrubs follow the winding 
roadway; there are parterres and terraces, lawns green 
and smooth as the covering of billiard tables, conserva- 
tories, great gardens of fruits and melons, paths winding 
through the trees, fountains and brooks — but I forbear. 
And then in the evening thousands of lights gleam among 
the foliage and flowers, while a radiance of many hues 
illumines the little pond beyond the velvet lawn, lending 
beauty to the stars and stripes flying proudly above all. 
The fascination, once felt, abides with one forever. 

A word more. Many-sided in doing good is Edward 
Tuck, nor is there a narrow dispensation in what he 
does. Not far from his summer home he has built a 
modern and admirably equipped hospital, which he 
maintains, himself; and not long ago a little park was 
another gift to the people of Rueil. Mrs. Tuck shares 
her husband's interest in everything, and loves to do 
good for its own sake. How many have been her bene- 
factions, how much want and misery she has relieved, 
Mrs. Tuck alone knows. But I can tell of the school 
for the town's poor children which she supports and 
often visits, notwithstanding the many demands upon 
her time. 

I must close with this all too incomplete estimate of 



4i 

Mr. Tuck. His heart beats in sympathy with those 
that deserve sympathy; he is veritably a man whose 
right hand knows nothing of what the other does; noto- 
riety is his abhorrence; fame and reputation he does not 
seek; strong in character, charitable in judgment, a 
despiser of hypocrisy and cant, humorous, warm-hearted, 
loyal, interested in the doings of the world, in touch 
with many men, sure of himself, and recognizing his 
great trust and its responsibilities, he lives his life like 
the true American that he is. 



Mr. Hackett, Toastmaster. 

We are fortunate in having with us today a gentleman 
not announced on the program, but who has kindly 
consented to say a few words to us; and he is entitled to 
that privilege because he is a former President of the 
New Hampshire Historical Society, having served in 
that capacity in the days of adversity, when the Society 
had no beautiful home and no efficient Secretary as it 
now has, and in the days when the burden was sustained 
largely by the individual efforts of the President himself. 

I have the honor to introduce Honorable Samuel C. 
Eastman of Concord. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
By Samuel Coffin Eastman. 

I cannot imagine why I was selected except upon the 
principle that the object of the Society is the cultivation 
of antiquity. I believe that I happen to be, so far as 
time of election is concerned, the oldest member of the 
Society, and perhaps that is the cause. To quote our 
Roman poet Horace again, it may be that I am expected 
to be a "laudator temporis acti me puero," a garrulous 



4 2 

story-teller of what happened when I was a boy. I 
don't know, so far as the Historical Society is concerned, 
but that if I undertook that task I should have to return 
to the toastmaster himself, and speak of his grandfather, 
who was one of the mainsprings of the Society in the 
days when I first belonged to it; and of Dr. Bouton of 
Concord, without whom the Society could not possibly 
have existed in its earlier days; of Dr. Cummings, who 
was always going to write the history of the Baptists in 
New Hampshire, but who died before he reached his 
task; and of many others whom I might name. The 
Society was smaller and poorer than it is now, but it 
always had many earnest and devoted members who 
made its reputation known to the world. 

Allusion has been made to the present condition of 
this Society, and what it was when I first joined it. I 
remember the place where the Society had its storage of 
books when I first became a member, an attic room, 
with the rafters covered with hanging cobwebs; and the 
change from that to the magnificent building that we 
now occupy is something, as I have remarked before, 
beyond the best dreams of any member of the Society 
of those days. Those who constituted the Society at 
that time worked hard for its benefit and for its collec- 
tions; and many things were done, many papers were 
written, that would be worthy of consideration today, 
and were a great addition to the historic lore of the 
state ; and much was collected in the way of books and 
manuscripts and other memorials that justly have their 
place in the present magnificent building. 

And there is one thing that I want to call attention 
to, and with which I shall close, and that is the 
present condition of the Society. The impetus that is 
given by the magnificent building that has been be- 
stowed upon us by Mr. Tuck has created a condition 



43 

that we could hardly have realized before it came. Gifts 
of valuable books and collections are beginning to flow 
in upon the Society. I have no doubt that, while not 
many gifts of money have been made since its dedica- 
tion, many will come, and many are now contemplated; 
and as to books that have been given, and the increase 
of the members of the Society, the progress is marked 
and very praiseworthy. We have entered upon an era 
of prosperity, not the least evidence of which is the gen- 
eral interest taken in the Society, as your presence 
shows, and the great increase in membership. 



LETTERS 

Letter of Ernest Fox Nichols, President of 
Dartmouth College. 

Hanover, N. H., July 14, 1914. 
My dear General Streeter: 

I deeply regret my inability to be present at the dedi- 
cation of the monument to the memory of Reverend 
John Tucke on Star Island Wednesday, July 29, and the 
dedication of a tablet to Captain John Smith at the same 
place and on the same day. Before the kind invitation 
of the New Hampshire Historical Society arrived I had 
already accepted an invitation from the government of 
New Zealand to meet in September with the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science at Welling- 
ton and Christchurch. This makes it necessary for me 
to leave New England not later than July 20. 

In being thus unavoidably absent my regret is deep- 
ened by what I feel to be the historical significance of 
the occasion. Reverend John Tucke and Captain John 
Smith were both outstanding, strong, and fearless men, 
whose lives present many points of the strongest con- 
trast, among these the occupations of war and peace. 

Reverend John Tucke, putting aside all other ambi- 
tion, led a life of single devotion to the spiritual and 
bodily needs of a small, isolated, and all but forgotten 
community of rude fishermen and their families, a god- 
less and a sordid people. 

Among such surroundings he lived and worked for 
forty-one years, from early manhood until death. Like 



4 6 

unto the Master in whose service his life was spent, he 
tended and healed men's bodies as he tended and healed 
men's souls, and he, too, found disciples among fisher- 
men. 

These picturesque Isles of Shoals were discovered by 
Captain John Smith; their people were converted to 
the Gospel by the Reverend John Tucke. Let not pos- 
terity forget the man of peace, whose was the larger, 
longer, and harder task. 

Sincerely, 

Ernest Fox Nichols. 

The Hon. Frank S. Streeter, 

President of the New Hampshire Historical Society, 
Concord, N. H. 



Letter of Amos Tuck French. 

My dear Mr. Kimball : 

Much to my disappointment and regret I shall not be 
able to be present at Star Island on July 29th. I shall 
be in Europe at that time, and, consequently, I must 
miss taking part in the exercises commemorative of my 
distant kinsman, the Reverend John Tucke. I have 
long felt a somewhat active interest in Mr. Tucke and 
his ministry, and I wish that we knew more about him 
and his life's work at the Shoals. But from the slight 
records and annals that have come down to us I am sure 
he was no ordinary man, and that our dedication today is 
appropriate and deserved. 

It is not necessary for me to recall or recount the inci- 
dents of his career, but I may be permitted, I trust, to 
throw a little light upon one incident in his early life. 
Chester is the home of the French family, therefore, 
what I relate possesses an added interest to me. One 



47 

day, while searching the town records, I came across 
the interesting fact that Chester called Mr. Tucke to 
serve her in the ministry, but without success. The 
quaint record merely tells us that "y e Rev. John Tucke 
refused to settle with y e inhabitants of Chester in y e 
work of y e ministry" in 1729, having previously preached 
there for fourteen Sundays at thirty shillings a Sunday. 
What the reasons were for the young minister to decline 
the salary of £120, and prefer Star Island to the attrac- 
tions of Chester, is more than I am able to explain, par- 
ticularly in view of the smaller stipend given by the 
fishermen. Those that entertain a belief in hereditary 
characteristics may possibly discover in that example of 
self-renunciation and disregard of money a trait not 
wholly wanting in the generous donor of yonder shaft. 
We who wonder why it was that the youthful minister, 
fresh from Harvard, preferred to turn his face seaward, 
may find some explanation in the answer he made to 
the good citizens of Chester who had voted to call him. 
He writes as of October 7, 1729, to this effect, "Now 
these are to signify that for Weighty Reasons I decline 
settling there. I wish you a happy settlement in God's 
good time. Your humble servant, Jn° Tucke." 

With deep regret at my absence I send you my best 
wishes for fine weather and a good time, 
Yours sincerely, 

Amos Tuck French. 

To Hon. Benjamin A. Kimball, 

Concord, New Hampshire. 



4 8 

Letter of Dr. Joseph W. Warren. 

State Department of Health, 

Harrisburg, Pa. 
July 25, 1914. 
My dear Mr. Hammond: 

As I telegraphed you last night, my part of the work 
of this department is so much in arrears by reason of the 
illness and death of my predecessor that, after all, I can- 
not get away to come to the dedication of the Tucke 
monument. I should have notified you of this sooner 
had the situation been quite clear, and particularly had 
I realized that this was to be such an elaborate ceremony. 

No one who knows anything of the life of the Rev. 
John Tucke can help wishing to be present when his 
memory is honored. Little did he realize at the time 
of his death in 1773 that in a few months the last royal 
Governor of New Hampshire, as a refugee from his 
colony, would slip up to Gosport from Boston to make 
his last proclamation. Nor could he have guessed that 
after a few months more the inhabitants of Gosport 
would be warned to leave the island in view of the 
exigencies of the Revolution, the warning being brought 
by Capt. Titus Salter, who as a boy, some fifty years 
before, had played about the point near the Ram's 
Horn still known as Captain Salter's Point in memory 
of his father, John Salter. Still less could Mr. Tucke 
have dreamed that a hundred and eighty-two years 
after his ordination a goodly company would be brought 
together by steam cars and trolley cars, and then carried 
over the sea on a steamboat to honor him, and to recall 
the enthusiasms of his youth, and the faithful earnest- 
ness of those maturer years of his long and beneficent 
pastorate. 

The career of Mr. Tucke at Gosport carries with it a 
number of interesting questions concerning the Shoals 



49 

and the Shoalers. The whole series of events which led 
to his coming needs to be cleared up. There is an 
extraordinary lack of information as to ministers and 
churches on the Shoals from about 1690 down to the 
establishment of a new church in the last week of June, 
1729, or, more precisely, to the advent of Mr. Tucke in 
the autumn of 1731, the year before his ordination. 

We know, to be sure, that the Rev. Daniel Greenleaf 
was there in 1705, and that he was in some way con- 
nected with the Tucke family, a circumstance which may 
explain the interest of young Tucke in the Shoalers, 
although the relations between Hampton and the islands 
were always intimate. Few readers of the Wreck of 
Rivermouth know that the skipper of the craft on that 
fateful day, of which the historical basis has been freely 
transformed in the poem, was an old Shoaler who had 
moved to Hampton some years before. The record of 
the sale of his property on the Shoals is one of the earliest 
deeds we have relating to these islands. 

Recently a parson of 1702 has been discovered by the 
aid of an old court record, a writ issued against two Star 
Islanders who had sought to injure him. This minister, 
the Rev. Samuel Eburne, so far as I know has never 
before been mentioned as belonging to the Isles of 
Shoals. He seems to have had relatives in Portsmouth, 
and may have come from that place. I have not yet 
had time to trace him. 

Then, too, the career of the Rev. Mr. Moody, who 
figures in most historical narratives about the Isles of 
Shoals, is wrapped in mystery. There is evidently a 
confusion of personalities. Those who have written 
about him tell what seems at first glance a clear, smooth 
story, but when one begins to look for the facts the 
thickest of thick Shoals fogs enwraps them. 

And then — but why go on? One might talk all day 



5o 

about the Shoalers, down to those few last lingering 
representatives now about the islands, and who may be 
traced without much difficulty back to the first parochial 
work of Mr. Tucke. The more I learn about the 
Shoalers, old and young, early or late, the more they 
interest me. They lived much in the open, and the 
limelight of history has shone sharply on the seamy side 
of their existence. The old Shoalers had their faults 
and their vices, which, of course, we summer Shoalers 
have not. They had their virtues, too, but these have 
received scant attention at the hands of those who have 
sought material for a story, a story with lots of ginger in 
it if possible. Compare the early fishermen of the 
Shoals with the same social group in Portsmouth, New- 
castle, Kit'tery, Marblehead, much closer to the Shoals 
than is commonly supposed, and so on, and I doubt if 
you find that they suffer by the comparison, but it must 
be done with an eye open to the fundamentals, and not 
blinded by conventionalities. 

I notice that in some of the newspaper stories of the 
new monument I am credited with having made the 
suggestion of a new memorial to Rev. Mr. Tucke. This 
version of the affair ought to be corrected, and I hope 
that you may find an opportunity to do it. I am merely 
the "kicker" who protested, a year or so ago, the 
acceptance and dedication of a memorial tablet which 
was not only improperly placed and full of gross in- 
accuracies, but quite unworthy of the subject and the 
generous donor. Other kickers — on the stage and in 
politics — have achieved distinction, but I have no desire 
to have it thrust upon me. The honor of making the 
original suggestion which has led to the erection of this 
monument belongs elsewhere, not to 

Yours very truly, 

Joseph W. Warren. 



5i 

Letter of Frank Warren Hackett. 

Washington, D. C, July 24, 1914. 
Otis G. Hammond, 

Superintendent N. H. Historical Society, 
Concord, N. H. 
Dear Mr. Hammond: 

In an earlier letter you were advised how great was 
my regret that I am to be detained here, and to be 
deprived of the privilege of attending the Tucke monu- 
ment exercises at the Shoals on Wednesday next. 

I trust that the day will be fair, and that the attend- 
ance will be large. 

It is a pleasure, indeed, for us of the Society to testify 
by our presence how profound is the regard in which we 
hold our fellow-member and most liberal benefactor, 
Edward Tuck. In his devotion to his native state, to 
Dartmouth, and to the New Hampshire Historical 
Society, we see that Mr. Tuck has exhibited a generous 
spirit and a most excellent judgment. 

I like to fancy that in Edward Tuck (we were boys 
together at Exeter Academy in 1856) are disclosed 
certain traits that characterized his early kinsman 
whose memory we now strive to honor. 

The Reverend John Tucke, throughout his long life 
at the Shoals, gave of himself unsparingly for the good 
of his people. The simple annals of a godly ministry 
became long ago an enduring monument of the heroic 
nature of the man. 

Today we do well to dedicate this noble shaft that 
shall tell anew of the virtues of Parson Tucke. Coming 
generations shall heed this mute witness of the truth 
that labor, unselfishly bestowed for the material and 
spiritual welfare of one's fellowmen, leaves behind it a 
record that the world ever delights to honor. 
Yours truly, 

Frank W. Hackett. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



Address of Professor Justin Harvey Smith, Gov- 
ernor of the New Hampshire Society of Col- 
onial Wars, July 29, 1914, at the Dedication 
of a Tablet Placed on the Monument to 
Captain John Smith by That Society. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

1579-1631 

AFTER PROVING HIS VALOR IN 

EUROPE AND AMERICA BECAME 

GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA 

AND 

ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND 

WHILE EXPLORING THIS COAST IN THE 

SPRING OF 1614 MADE THE FIRST RECORDED 

VISIT TO THESE ISLANDS, NAMED BY HIM 

SMITH'S ISLES 



THIS TABLET IS PLACED 

THREE HUNDRED YEARS LATER BY THE 

SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS 

IN THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 

1914 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Three hundred and fourteen years ago, beside a wind- 
ing stream in a small pasture surrounded by the rather 
somber woods of Lincolnshire, England, one might have 
seen a hut built of the branches of trees. The proprietor 
and occupant of this rustic palace was a vigorous man 
twenty-one years of age, born of a plain bat good family 
and fairly well educated for the time, John Smith by 
name. He had already seen more of the world than 
most Englishmen saw in a lifetime, for he had visited 
London, Orleans, Paris, Rouen, Havre, had served under 
brave Henry of Navarre, had fought in Holland, had 
been ship-wrecked, and had visited Scotland. With 
such adventures at his back he was fully qualified to set 
up in London as a roistering blade; but instead of doing 
that he built himself this "Pavillion of boughes," as he 
called it, and in the midst of a solitude passed his time in 
the knightly exercise of tilting at a ring, in studying 
Machiavelli's Art of War, or in absorbing the maxims of 
that noblest of men, Marcus Aurelius. Apparently this 
young fellow was of no ordinary mold, and such was 
indeed the case. When only thirteen years old he had 
fixed his mind upon achieving something worthy of note. 
He had already made a good beginning, and was now 
instructing and fortifying himself to play an unusual 
r61e. 

From this seclusion he was drawn before long by an 
Italian gentleman, whose accomplished horsemanship, 
familiarity with languages, and interesting conversation 
made him an agreeable and profitable friend; and young 



58 

Smith set out the same year for the continent again. 
His aim was to fight the Turk in behalf of Christian 
civilization; and after visiting on his way many places 
in the western and southern parts of France, he took 
ship at Marseilles. Holy pilgrims who were aboard, 
declaring they could expect no good weather while a 
heretic was among them, threw him into the sea, but 
his skill in swimming and a fortunate chance preserved 
his life; and after continuing his travels through Italy 
and Sicily and visiting Alexandria, Cyprus, Rhodes, 
Crete, and Greece, he at length found himself at Vienna, 
near the scene of hostilities. The Turks were swarming 
through Hungary in fact, as he had been told; and, eager 
to be at them, he entered the service of the Emperor. 

In the campaign that followed he took an active part 
and won distinction; but by the fortune of war he was at 
length wounded, captured, and sold as a slave. After 
experiencing both remarkable favor and remarkable 
cruelty he finally escaped, wandered through strange 
regions in Turkey, Tartary, and Russia, traversed Hun- 
gary, Germany, France, and Spain, crossed into Africa, 
made an involuntary cruise on a man-of-war that was 
blown to sea, helping fight a brace of Spanish vessels in 
the course of it, and finally, about four years after leaving 
his pavilion of boughs, found himself again in England. 

The next scene of his activities was Virginia, and what 
he did and suffered on this quest is a part of our history. 
How cliques and mutinies were formed against him, how 
a gallows was erected for his particular use, how he 
spared his unjust enemies when they fell into his power, 
how often he faced the perils of disease, starvation, 
savage warfare and still more savage tortures is well 
known. He was the life of the struggling settlement. 
44 It is not a work for everyone to plant a Colony," he said 
once. "This requireth all the best parts of Art, Judg- 



59 

merit, Courage, Honesty, Constancy, Diligence, and Ex- 
perience, to do but near well; and there is a great differ- 
ence between Saying and Doing." And this one may see 
clearly from his own experience. In spite of everything, 
however, he saved that flickering hope from extinction, 
and probably by so doing accomplished far more than he 
has been credited with. Had the James River colony 
failed before August, 1609, when the Third Supply 
arrived, there might have been no commonwealth of 
Virginia, no Jefferson to write our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and no Washington to vindicate it on the 
field ; the Pilgrim Fathers would not have come to New 
England; and the United States of America, as we 
know it, might never have existed. 

Under his guidance the colony at length became fairly 
prosperous; but early in October, 1609, terribly burned 
by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, he found it 
necessary to sail for England. The value of his services 
then showed itself, for out of four hundred and ninety 
persons who composed the settlement the month he left 
it, all but sixty were dead by the following March. 

After recovering his strength he took up, as we know, 
the task of exploring the New England coast, and landed 
three hundred years ago on these islands. And finally 
returning home he interested himself in literary work, 
giving to the world, besides other productions, an account 
of his travels which ranks, as a piece of writing, among 
the very best English books of that class published in his 
day, a practical manual of seamanship highly valued by 
men in that calling, and the "Generall Historie of Vir- 
ginia, New England and the Summer Isles." Such in 
brief is the record of Captain John Smith, and it seems 
to be the record of a singularly brave, enterprising, tal- 
ented, and high-minded gentleman. 

The testimony of those qualified to judge confirms 



6o 

this opinion abundantly. A fellow soldier wrote in this 
manner: 

"Thy words by deeds so long thou hast approv'd, 
Of thousands [that] know thee not thou art belov'd." 

One who had fought under him against the Turks 
paid an equal tribute to his valor and to his modesty: 

"Oft thou hast led, when I brought up the Rere 

In bloudy wars, where thousands have beene slaine. 
Then give me leave in this some part to beare; 

And as thy servant here to reade my name. 
Tis true, long time thou hast my Captaine beene 

In the fierce warres of Transilvania : 
Long ere that thou America hadst seene, 

Or led wast captiv'd in Virginia; 
Thou that to passe the worlds foure parts dost deeme 

No more then t'were to goe to bed or drinke, 
And all thou yet hast done thou dost esteeme 

As nothing." 

His epitaph in the church of Saint Sepulchre, London, 
begins with these words: 

" Here lies one conquer'd that hath conquer 'd Kings, 
Subdu'd large Territories, and done things 
Which to the World impossible would seeme, 
But that the truth is held in more esteeme." 

There is, moreover, a bit of prose that outshines verse. 
Two survivors of the "starving time" that followed his 
retirement from Virginia described his life in the colony 
as follows: "What shall I say? But thus we lost him that 
in all his proceedings made justice his first guide and 
experience his second ; ever hating baseness, sloth, pride, 
and indignity more than any dangers; that never allowed 
more for himself than his souldiers with him; that upon 
no danger would send them where he would not lead them 
himself; that would never see us want what he either 



6i 



had, or could by any means get us; that would rather 
want than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved 
actions more than words, and hated falsehood and cozen- 
age [more] than death ; whose adventures were our lives, 
and whose loss our death. " 

Still more to the point are the things that Captain 
Smith said himself. "And truly," he once wrote, 
"there is no pleasure comparable to that of a generous 
spirit; as good employment in noble actions, especially 
amongst Turks, Heathens and Infidels; to see daily new 
countries, people, fashions, governments, stratagems; 
to relieve the oppressed, comfort his friends, pass mis- 
eries, subdue enemies, adventure upon any feasible 
danger for GOD and Country. It is true, it is a happy 
thing to be born to strength, wealth, and honour; but 
that which is got by prowess and magnanimity is the 
truest lustre ; and those can the best distinguish Content 
that have escaped most honourable dangers; as if, out 
of every extremity, he found himself new born to a new 
life, to learn how to amend and maintain his Age." To 
comment on such words would be to gild the sun. 

For suggestions about applying his principles take 
this passage: 

"Then, who would live at home idly (or thinke in himselfe 
any worth to live) onely to eate, drink, and sleepe, and so die? 
Or by consuming that carelesly his friends got worthily? Or 
by using that miserably that maintained vertue honestly? Or 
for being descended nobly, pine with the vaine vaunt of great 
kindred in penurie? Or (to maintaine a silly shewe of brav- 
ery) toyle out thy heart, soule, and time basely by shifts, 
tricks, cards, and dice? Or by relating newes of others actions 
sharke here or there for a dinner or supper; deceive thy friends 
by faire promises and dissimulation in borrowing where thou 
never intendest to pay; offend the lawes, surfeit with excesse, 
burden thy Country, abuse thy selfe, despaire in want, and 
then couzen thy kindred, yea even thine owne brother, and 



62 

wish thy parents death (I will not say damnation) to have 
their estates? though thou seest what honours and rewards 
the world yet hath for them [who] will seeke them and worthily 
deserve them." 

Treating of a broader subject he used the following 
language : 

"Consider: What were the beginnings and endings of the 
Monarkies of the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Grecians, and 
Romanes but this one rule; What was it they would not doe 
for the good of the commonwealth or their Mother-citie? For 
example: Rome, What made her such a Monarchesse but 
onely the adventures of her youth, not in riots at home but 
in dangers abroade? and the justice and judgement out of their 
experience when they grewe aged. What was their ruine and 
hurt but this; The excesse of idlenesse, the fondnesse of 
Parents, the want of experience in Magistrates, the admira- 
tion of their undeserved honours, the contempt of true merit, 
their unjust jealosies, their politicke incredulities, their hypo- 
criticall seeming goodnesse, and their deeds of secret lewd- 
nesse? Fnially, in fine, growing onely formall temporists, all 
that their predecessors got in many years they lost in few 
daies. Those by their pain and vertues became Lords of the 
world; they by their ease and vices became slaves of their 
servants." 

One more quotation will suffice. It is brief, but it 
reveals the man clearly: "I thank God I never under- 
took^ anything yet [wherein] any could tax me of care- 
lessnesse or dishonesty." 

And yet this brave and honorable soldier has been 
charged with braggadocio and falsehood by certain 
historical sceptics. Of this we do not complain. His- 
torical scepticism is wholesome and even necessary, 
and we only ask due attention to the facts. The sub- 
stantial points in his narratives that have been chal- 
lenged are two. He states that during the campaign in 



63 

Transylvania he slew three Turkish champions and cut 
off their heads. Had he told of meeting them all at the 
same time one might indeed feel astonished; but the 
combats occurred on different days, and he gives a con- 
siderable part of the glory to his horse. In view of 
his well-attested valor and skill there is nothing improb- 
able in the account, and the evidence in support of it is 
conclusive. For one thing, he named three islands off 
Cape Ann the Three Turks' Heads long before he pub- 
lished an account of his exploit; and for another, 
Sigismund Bathori, Duke of Transylvania, granted him, 
in a document of which we have the text, the right to 
use three Turks' heads as his arms on the express ground 
of the achievement in question. This grant, moreover, 
was duly recorded at the Heralds' College in London, and 
we have the precise language of the entry. Proof 
more satisfactory there could not be. 

The second accusation rests essentially upon the fact 
that his being rescued by Pocahontas, mentioned by him 
in his Generall Historic of Virginia, dated 1624, was not 
alluded to in his True Relation written sixteen years 
earlier. Now, the latter document was a letter hastily 
written for particular purposes while a ship was preparing 
to set sail, and the author had a perfect right to mention 
or omit whatever he chose. This is not all, however. 
The True Relation was published, as we have it, by an 
anonymous editor, who obtained it somehow at second 
or third hand, and admitted in the preface that he did 
not print the whole of it. Under such circumstances the 
non-appearance of the Pocahontas episode in this paper 
cannot be considered evidence of any weight against a 
carefully prepared historical narrative published by the 
author himself. 

Something more, too, is worth saying. Captain 
Smith never laid any stress upon the Pocahontas 



6 4 

affair. He gave it only a few lines when he did recount 
it. Doubtless he regarded it as merely one incident in 
the day's work, one hazard in a life made up of perils; 
and other good reasons could be suggested for his omit- 
ting it, if he really did omit it, from the True Relation. 
Enemies of his who were in a position to know the facts 
never questioned the story. Without it Smith's ex- 
traordinary release from the Indians, who killed his 
companions without mercy, is inexplicable. Inexpli- 
cable also is Powhatan's despatching this young girl as 
ambassador to Smith to obtain the freedom of Indian 
prisoners; and other undoubted events would be equally 
hard to explain. In short, no serious difficulty is con- 
nected with the story, while to reject it would involve 
us in several deep embarrassments. 

Curiously enough, when honest but imperfectly in- 
formed scholarship had thus laid a mistaken foundation 
for impeaching Captain Smith's veracity, ill fortune 
cast him into the hands of an amiable but unreflecting 
humorist, who indulged himself and his readers with 
thoughtless witticisms at the Captain's expense. In 
Holland, we aie told, for example, "He hacked and hewed 
away at his fellow men, all in the way of business, for 
three or four years." This not only ignores the fact 
that in Smith's day fighting was considered the noblest 
of occupations, but overlooks his repentance for having 
slain fellow-Christians, and his determination — carried 
out at immense expense to himself — to use his arms 
against the enemies of our religion and civilization. In 
this respect he stood head and shoulders above his time. 

The Captain mentioned a nobleman whom he named 
Mercury; and this, our humorist says, has "given a 
mythological air to Smith's narration, and aided to 
transfer it to the region of romance." But this noble- 
man has been found to be Philippe de Lorraine, Duke of 



65 

Mercoeur; and "Mercury" was simply an attempt to 
anglicize the name. In like manner it is hinted that 
an enemy called "Bonny Mulgro" was a creature of the 
imagination; but this enemy was a Turk, and the best 
that our author could do was to spell the name as no 
doubt it sounded. Referring to the account of the 
Three Turks the critic says, "We approach it with the 
satisfaction of knowing that it loses nothing in Smith's 
narration. In point of fact, however, the account 
was taken by the Captain from an Italian author trans- 
lated by Samuel Purchas." "Our hero never stirs with- 
out encountering a romantic adventure," says the ami- 
able humorist, because for one reason or another Smith 
was aided on a few occasions by persons of the other sex. 
The suggestion is that he was always on the lookout for 
romantic adventures ; but, had he been, so brave and well- 
favored a soldier, with such thrilling tales to tell, could 
have had more of them in one season at London than he 
seems to have encountered in his life. The swamps of 
Virginia and the rock-bound coast of New England were 
not promising places for such a quest. His description 
of the Crim-Tatars, we are assured, "belongs to the 
marvels of Mandeville and other wide-eyed travellers"; 
but a writer in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica states that it was careful and accurate. "We 
know nothing of his habits, " the critic continues, plainly 
suggesting that they were bad ; but a fellow-soldier wrote: 

" I never knew a Warrier yet but thee 
From wine, Tobacco, debts, dice, oaths, so free." 

Happily, only a few years after our humorist made 
merry over his imaginary braggart, Smith's complete 
works, a volume of about one thousand pages, were 
placed before the world by a competent scholar, Pro- 
fessor Arber, who tells us that he scrutinized and com- 
pared every line. "Inasmuch," says Arber, "as where- 



66 



ever we can check Smith we find him both modest and 
accurate, we are led to think him so where no such check 
is possible;" and he sums up his opinion thus: "For our 
own part, beginning with doubtfulness and wariness, 
we have gradually come to the unhesitating conviction 
not only of Smith's truthfulness, but also that, in regard 
to all personal matters, he systematically understates 
rather than exaggerates anything he did." This judg- 
ment appears to be entirely sound. A critical, scientific 
historian the Captain was not. Critical, scientific 
history was unknown in his day. He was a man of the 
world; he wrote with a free hand and largely from mem- 
ory; but substantially what he stated was veracious, and 
the man himself was such as we love to honor. As 
Arber says, the "unmerited cloud of detraction and dis- 
credit . . . passes away forever"; and Arber is en- 
dorsed in turn by the editors of the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, who commissioned him to write the article 
on Captain John Smith for their latest edition. 

One cannot help asking now what rewards were meted 
out for such a character and such a life, and one has to 
admit that his recompense, measured by the ordinary 
standards, was but small. For one thing he seems to 
have been pursued, like most men of elevated aims and 
independent minds, by depreciation and slander in his 
own time. It was easier and more agreeable to mis- 
construe and misrepresent than to recognize his superi- 
ority. 

"Malignant Times! What can be said or done 
But shall be censur'd and traduc't by some!" 

exclaimed one of his friends. In his principal aim, too, 
he was unsuccessful, for he could not obtain the necessary 
support for his colonization ideas. In moments of 
depression, overcome by the bulk and weight of the 
commonplace prosperity that he saw about him and the 



6 7 

high honors often gained by undeserving men, he re- 
garded his own career as a failure, perhaps; and in a 
touching poem that he wrote or adopted he compared 
himself to a stranded vessel, beached and abandoned: 

" Aloof e, aloof e, and come no neare, 

the dangers doe appeare ; 
Which if my ruine had not beene 

you had not seene: 
I onely lie upon this shelfe 

to be a marke to all 

which on the same might fall, 
That none may perish but my selfe." 

Gifted with remarkable abilities, remarkable energy, 
and remarkable ambition to achieve, after extraordinary 
exertions and sufferings he found himself in fact neither 
wealthy nor duly honored. 

But in the soberest estimation of values he received 
an adequate reward. To be misunderstood by inferiors 
attested his merit. To be denounced by mean men was 
of itself a distinction. The conviction that he was 
pursuing true glory, the satisfaction of deserving it, the 
possession of wide knowledge and rich experience, and 
the consciousness of doing the world service — though the 
service that he did was greater than he knew — were no 
slight compensations for what he missed ; and many single 
hours in his career doubtless outweighed lifetimes passed 
in wriggling along through easy pleasures and winning 
trivial successes by the practice of trivial arts. 

Such an hour was that when he realized, following the 
white plume of Navarre, that he, too, was a soldier. 
Such an hour it was when he triumphed over the three 
Turks as the champion of Christendom. Another such 
hour came when he made it clear, in spite of the small- 
ness, timidity, and jealousy about him, that he was the 
salvation of the precious little colony in Virginia. And 



68 



another such hour fell into his golden cup on this very 
spot. One cannot doubt it, for it was no grace or lux- 
uriance that induced him to honor these islands with his 
name. Indeed, with but a little imagination, aided by 
the surroundings, we can see him step ashore here from 
his open boat, and climb to the summit of the isle; see 
him scan, with the wary but unflinching eye of a Ulysses, 
the shore of that New England which he named and loved, 
as it seemed now to come forward in a blaze of sunshine, 
and now to recede under the shadow of a passing cloud; 
see him bare his ample forehead and gaze upon the great- 
ness of sea and sky with a spirit equally vast and equally 
free; and then see him retire calmly into a realm where 
every man of kingly blood has a throne, and where the 
voice of detraction and slander cannot penetrate, the 
realm of thought, whose lofty gates had opened to him 
in the solitude of Willoughby. Though a doer of deeds 
he was, like all true men of action, essentially a man of 
contemplation; and where could he find a nobler oppor- 
tunity to think than on a spot like this? 

Most proper is it, therefore, to dedicate, and to dedi- 
cate on Smith's Isles, a sign to his memory. Like him 
our memorial is unpretentious, but, like his fame, strong 
as the strength of granite and of bronze; and here may 
it stand through all generations, paying due honor to 
Captain John Smith as the navigator, the soldier, the 
traveller, the explorer, the colonizer, the ruler and the 
author; strong, bold, far-seeing, broad-minded, magnan- 
imous, resourceful, and true; ambitious to serve, lavish 
in self-sacrifice, tireless when action was required, patient 
when patience, fearless when courage; one of the finest 
types of the race to which he belonged. 



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